Leaving WR and Clover?
- Thread starter Snoop
- Start date
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Given how far along you are already, fall may be a long ways off. Still, I'd let that go as long as you can if you're not itching to sneak in a full season warm crop like corn or beans. I might let that rye go all the way to maturity (like the grain releases from the head easily after dry down) and mow it and walk away. Or mow it and spread a little more crimson and brassicas. The only reason I'd want to mow it is to shatter the seed heads so they spread out and can start growing the next crop.
**Bonus if you throw in some chicory and plantain. Deer go nuts for that stuff on my place in the fall.
**Bonus if you throw in some chicory and plantain. Deer go nuts for that stuff on my place in the fall.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Just spitballing here because i don't have enough experience, especially in your growing zone - but some reasons I could see for mowing:
- If there are weeds in the mix you want to prevent from going to seed
- If you are concerned with rye seed maturing until viable and then being super heavy in rye to where other stuff struggles to compete in this year's planting.
- If you are concerned with not having enough plants that will stay green through heat of summer and want to broadcast some additional seed that might help in that regard and think mowing will help with sun getting to this new seed after germination
- If there are weeds in the mix you want to prevent from going to seed
- If you are concerned with rye seed maturing until viable and then being super heavy in rye to where other stuff struggles to compete in this year's planting.
- If you are concerned with not having enough plants that will stay green through heat of summer and want to broadcast some additional seed that might help in that regard and think mowing will help with sun getting to this new seed after germination
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I have some not quite that high but high, I was going to leave it at least till after turkey poults could get some use out of it. Not sure where you are but turkeys could use our help if we could spare some
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Don't forget to watch out for fawns when mowing this time of year.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
That is so hard for me to comprehend. My rye still had 7 inches of snow on it 17 days ago. I’m going to see it tomorrow night for the first time in two weeks. I’m torn on whether my rye will even be 3” tall by now.
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omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Read crimson n camo throw and mow thread. He mows once during the summer to just keep from being total jungle, then broadcasts and mows in fall planting (he does in early October in alabama, you would prob do mid September in your region). That’s it. That’s all you have to do to have a nice cool weather crop yearly.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
If there were an all time best thread, I think it’d be Crimson’s throw and mow thread. That was some top notch documenting. I’m still chasing the kind of results that guy gets.
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TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
BrushyPines
5 year old buck +
The throw n mow thread by CNC is awesome! A lot of great knowledge that I learned a lot from. I have durana and chicory in a plot that I overseed with WR and WW in the fall. Last year I just let it do it's thing in the spring and summer and weeds took over the plot by July & August. Although it was good weeds (mainly ragweed) that the deer hammered, I was a little bummed it choked out my durana. This year I'm going to mow a few times to keep the weeds from choking out my durana. I dont want to fully kill the weeds because it is free forage for the herd, especially when the durana goes dormant in the summer heat. Just want to keep them at bay and not take over the whole plot like last year. Luckily my chicory bounced back after I mowed in September. The durana was spotty, but I had already planned to reseed durana this fall. Existing durana was planted in 2019 and was starting to fade away with how poor my soil is (very sandy) and that could be the reason it didnt bounce back. Below are pictures of the ragweed and browse pressure. How the chicory bounced back from this is beyond me. LOL It did leave a lot of OM once I did mow it, so I cant complain too much. If theres nothing in the plot you are wanting to protect from getting choked out, I say let it go and let free weeds from the seed bank feed your herd. Also will supply a bunch of OM that your soil will thank you for! All depends on your goals for that plot.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
I would let it go until you are ready to plant again....or let it go and just mow it in August (or whenever the rye seed becomes viable in your area) to get another free crop of rye.
Here is my experience with that method in Upper Michigan...
I am in the same boat with SD and Foggy - This is one of my cover crops yesterday - May 11th. Of course our snow has only been gone for about 3 weeks...I will let this grow until July when I will terminate it and plant brassicas. Of course those brassicas will include some clovers and a month later I will broadcast rye over it so it will become a cover crop next year...
Here is a cover crop from a previous year on May 26th
June 11th...
August 7th - Some of the rye seed is viable enough to germinate so I mowed it with my brush hog to scatter the seed. Had I let this go another week or so - probably all of the rye seed would have germinated and I would have had a very thick stand of rye.
August 16th - 9 days after mowing
You can see the rye seed has germinated and is growing well right along with the clovers...
August 30th - 23 days after mowing I've got another beautiful cover crop which will continue to feed my wildlife for another year if I choose. This - with no additional inputs - no fertilizer, no additional seed - no herbicides - no nothing. All I did was mow this approximately 1 year after planting the original cover crop. I could almost do this indefinitely - although adding some chicory would probably sweeten it up if I wanted it to be perennial.
Here is my experience with that method in Upper Michigan...
I am in the same boat with SD and Foggy - This is one of my cover crops yesterday - May 11th. Of course our snow has only been gone for about 3 weeks...I will let this grow until July when I will terminate it and plant brassicas. Of course those brassicas will include some clovers and a month later I will broadcast rye over it so it will become a cover crop next year...
Here is a cover crop from a previous year on May 26th
June 11th...
August 7th - Some of the rye seed is viable enough to germinate so I mowed it with my brush hog to scatter the seed. Had I let this go another week or so - probably all of the rye seed would have germinated and I would have had a very thick stand of rye.
August 16th - 9 days after mowing
You can see the rye seed has germinated and is growing well right along with the clovers...
August 30th - 23 days after mowing I've got another beautiful cover crop which will continue to feed my wildlife for another year if I choose. This - with no additional inputs - no fertilizer, no additional seed - no herbicides - no nothing. All I did was mow this approximately 1 year after planting the original cover crop. I could almost do this indefinitely - although adding some chicory would probably sweeten it up if I wanted it to be perennial.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
in 2021, I spent about $25 to get a pound of ragweed seed. I added it to my reclamation mix and I was quite disappointed in it. I bet I didn't get 40 plants over 2 acres.
BrushyPines
5 year old buck +
It is prevalent in my neck of the woods! Deer absolutely love it too! Do you think the ragweed will come back after each mowing?
SD51555
5 year old buck +
@Wild Thing, I'm looking forward to getting my face close to the mud to look at this years progress tomorrow.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Nope - I probably won't be taking any more pics till next month :)
